Fairy Tail Guild —
"Master, this is a letter Gildarts left for you." Cana, drowsy-eyed and without a shred of image to maintain, casually ran a hand through her hair with one hand while using the other to pass a crumpled envelope to Makarov, who was sitting at the bar enjoying a small drink.
"A letter?" Makarov suddenly felt a terrible sense of foreboding.
Just last night, he had finally resolved to take Gildarts down deep beneath the guild hall.
There, they witnessed the guild's greatest darkest secret—the Fairy Heart (Lumen Histoire).
While Makarov wasn't exactly old yet, he really didn't want to write any more letters of apology or statements of remorse to the Magic Council.
So last night, he had brought Gildarts to the secret place known only to successive generations of Fairy Tail Guild Masters.
His purpose was to formally have Gildarts sworn in as the Fifth Guild Master of Fairy Tail.
"By the way, how did you end up in this state?" Raizel was quite puzzled.
Although Cana drank heavily these days, she rarely got into such a hungover state.
"Drank all night with that good-for-nothing old man," Cana replied casually, yawning.
"Truly fitting of you," Raizel gave Cana a thumbs-up.
...
[PS: What I saw in the basement, I won't tell anyone. Good luck!]
Seeing the last line of the letter, Makarov's hand gripping the coarse paper nearly crumpled it to pieces.
"NANI!!! This guy ran away! HE RAN AWAY!" Makarov tore Gildarts' letter into shreds, veins bulging aggressively on his forehead, clearly furious.
"The old man asked me to tell you he's not cut out for the desk job, and that you should find someone else..." Cana scratched her head awkwardly.
Makarov had planned to announce Gildarts as the official Fifth Guild Master today while he was still here.
Now, he didn't even get the chance to make the announcement.
"Ran away? What do you mean?" Raizel glanced at Makarov, who was still fuming, decided not to provoke him, and turned to look at Cana instead.
Cana, drinking the hot hangover soup Mira had prepared for her, answered, "He said he wants to travel the world and will come back whenever he feels like it. So last night was basically his farewell to me. But he left me a magical card, said if I make a wish on it, he'll get the message and come back immediately."
Raizel nodded in understanding. "You wanted him to be the next Guild Master?"
"Correct," Makarov sighed heavily, rubbing his temples.
He deeply regretted it now.
If only he had just made the announcement directly in front of the guild instead of taking him to the basement first.
Now he was left stumped.
"He really isn't cut out for it, though..."
"Hey, hey, his daughter is still sitting right here," Cana shot Raizel a glare.
"Hahaha, my bad, my bad."
"Ur doesn't want it either... Why is finding a reliable next Guild Master so troublesome..." Makarov gloomily drank his sorrows away.
Makarov had asked Ur about it too, but Ur firmly stated she didn't have the administrative ability or patience to manage the chaotic guild.
"Is that even a question? Laxus exist," Raizel suggested.
"He's still too young." Makarov himself had only taken over Fairy Tail at age 40, so he still had some deep worries about whether Laxus could handle the massive political role.
"Then just hold on to the title for a couple more years and teach him properly."
"Alright, I'll think about it. Ah, forget it, forget it! Time for a drink!" Makarov could tolerate it at first, but the more he thought about the escaped Gildarts, the angrier he became.
"Hahaha, the Guild Master is throwing a tantrum again." Macao and Wakaba understood Makarov all too well.
...
"You're saying you want me to go with you to the East Forest this afternoon? Lady Porlyusica called you there?"
During lunch at the guild, Wendy suddenly brought this up to Raizel.
Carla nodded. "Yes, an Exceed living in the East Forest found me and said Porlyusica wanted to see Wendy."
"Can I go?"
"Of course."
Over the years, Wendy had visited Porlyusica's place a few times—not because she was severely injured, but to deliver gifts during Christmas.
Porlyusica was quite unfriendly to others, but while she wasn't exactly warm to Wendy either, she treated the young Dragon Slayer far better than anyone else.
Porlyusica's voice was identical to the Sky Dragon Grandeeney's, and her scent was very similar though slightly different.
Wendy knew she wasn't actually Grandeeney in human disguise, since Porlyusica had been here in Ishgar for decades, while the dragons supposedly disappeared in the year X777.
Porlyusica and Grandeeney's timelines overlapped.
She had already verified this with Makarov, who even had old photos with Porlyusica from her younger days.
The vintage photos also showed Rob, Blue Pegasus Guild Master Bob, and others in their prime.
There was another crucial piece of evidence—the Sky Dragon Grandeeney particularly loved humans, while Porlyusica particularly hated humans.
And this wasn't an act, her reputation was built through brutally beating guild members out of her forest with a broom.
But whenever Wendy heard Porlyusica's voice, she always felt as if Grandeeney was still by her side.
"Come to think of it, it's been a while since I've seen Lady Porlyusica."
Though Raizel also lived on the edge of the East Forest, Porlyusica lived deep within, and she rarely went out.
Even when Raizel occasionally got injured on S-Class missions, it wasn't serious enough to warrant visiting Porlyusica—having Wendy use healing magic at the guild was sufficient.
When Raizel, Wendy, and Carla arrived at the treehouse, Porlyusica was calmly sweeping fallen leaves off her porch as if nothing was amiss.
"Lady Porlyusica," Raizel and Wendy greeted her respectfully.
Porlyusica nodded, then turned to enter her house.
She quickly brought out an old, leather-bound book which she handed to Wendy.
Wendy blinked, and though she didn't know what it was, she accepted it carefully.
"This is a magic book I wrote based on what the Sky Dragon Grandeeney told me. It contains two Sky Magic spells—Milky Way and Shattering Light: Sky Drill. According to her, these are Dragon Slayer Secret Arts she simply didn't have time to teach you before she left."
"This is... from Grandeeney? For me?" Wendy looked at the heavy magic book with nostalgic eyes, wiped her sudden tears, and asked Porlyusica.
"Have you seen Grandeeney? Where is she?! What's your relationship with Grandeeney?!" Though somewhat impolite to shout, she couldn't help herself at this emotional moment.
"I have no relationship with Grandeeney. I'm one hundred percent human. If you view me from Earthland's human perspective, I'm equivalent to Grandeeney from Edolas. I accidentally got lost through an Anima portal and came to this world decades ago."
"Nani?!" Carla beside them finally understood.
No wonder Wendy always said their aura and voice were so incredibly similar.
"Edolas' Grandeeney... human..."
The usually short-tempered Porlyusica didn't mind Carla interrupting her this time, and continued gently.
"I haven't physically seen Grandeeney either. She spoke directly to my mind through some kind of telepathic magic, and I wrote down these two spells by hand."
"She asked me to give them to you at the appropriate time. I think now is the moment." Porlyusica had been secretly watching over Wendy all these years, and she felt Wendy's current strength and magical reserves had finally reached the right level to handle Secret Arts.
"But these two spells are extremely difficult. Don't push yourself too hard and get hurt while learning them."
After saying this, Porlyusica turned to enter the house, hiding her own emotions.
"Thank you so much, Lady Porlyusica!" Wendy stepped forward two steps, bowed deeply while holding the magic book, then looked up at the blue sky while clutching it tightly to her chest.
"Grandeeney!"